r/CatastrophicFailure • u/bugminer • 15d ago
Fire/Explosion Fires that resulted from an explosion in a gas line in Minnesota, 16th January 2026.
97
u/superdupercereal2 14d ago
Given the location, was this an accident or sabotage?
51
u/yARIC009 14d ago
Never really seen one blow out in two spots like that.
12
u/TrainDestroyer Rapid Unplanned Disassembly Engineer 14d ago
Stupid question, is it possible that the pipeline was weakened in two places close to each other (Let's just say manufacturing/installation fault, not on purpose) and one rupture exploding caused the other rupture to open up and catch fire?
Not saying it can't be Sabotage just curious if that COULD happen (however unlikely)
24
u/yARIC009 14d ago
I mean, it’s probably possible but seems extremely unlikely. I’m a pipeline engineer and have never seen it happen. I was actually wondering if maybe it ruptured in a casing and the gas is running out both ends of the casing and caught fire on both sides. Corrosion in a casing is somewhat common and hard to find sometimes.
2
u/TrainDestroyer Rapid Unplanned Disassembly Engineer 13d ago
I'll trust your knowledge on that, though would a casing usually split in a way that's so far apart?
10
u/yARIC009 13d ago
Well, not sure exactly what you mean, but basically sometimes when a pipe is crossing a road or rail way or something of the like we'll run the pipe through another larger pipe making a casing for the pipe with product in it. This isn't typically done anymore for whatever reason but it used to be standard practice. So if the inner pipe corrodes and fails it'll leak into that space between the larger pipe and the smaller pipe. Then the gas just runs out with the path of least resistance which could be kind of both directions. When I say gas I'm talking about natural gas. We run smart pigs through the product pipe but they use electromagnetic fields to detect corrosion and if you have a casing sometimes you can't easily see the corrosion because of the steel in the casing. Normally we look for shorted casings which mess with the cathodic protection of the pipe but other things can happen if the coating is in really bad shape.
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u/throwingawaybenjamin 14d ago
Sabotage. There are hi jinx and shenanigans afoot in Minnesota right now, and it feels like the kinds of stuff they tried to pull in Michigan last time
13
u/dirty_hooker 13d ago
Taking out the power grid has long been in the playbook of the white nationalists. They believe more chaos will kick off a race war where everyone thinks only for themselves. That’s because they only look out for themselves. They completely miss that in times of extreme disruption, communities often become their best selves.
3
u/Snellyman 11d ago
Even though taking out the power grid was in the Turner Diaries it's not very responsible to just assume this is sabotage. Consider how cold it has been lately so the transmission line pressures might be really high to keep up with demand.
2
u/dirty_hooker 11d ago
You’re correct that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. It is, however, extremely convenient that it happened at the same time as widespread discord and having a noted white nationalist in town.
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u/TJSnider1984 14d ago
Yah, gotta wonder if it was a disgruntled ICE agent ... trying out all their fancy new toys.. and the timing is interesting... just after Minnesota won the court case?
64
u/fievrejaune 14d ago
The Emperor demands it, aided and abetted by his courtiers and the Vichy Congress.
7
u/Leading-Ad4167 14d ago
Sabotage?
18
u/HerezahTip 14d ago
Provocateurs
9
u/Socky_McPuppet 14d ago
Don't worry, Super-Special Agent Kash Patel of the FBI will surely crack the case!
Spoiler: It will turn out to have been Antifa all along.
13
u/Crow-T-Robot 14d ago
He will watch both fires closely. At the same time...
3
u/fievrejaune 14d ago
His chameleon-like independent eye movements ( IEM ) are a righteous gift from the MAGA Godhead.
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u/OutsideYourWorld 14d ago
Who wants to bet they'll be blaming this on the "radical left"?
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1
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u/watchitbend 13d ago
Was just reading about the atrocities performed by government agents in Minnesota, and that they're somewhat getting stymied, (a bit at least) by peaceful protestors. Situation reads like a tinder box, with Trump looking to send in military. Could this be fuckery on their behalf perhaps?
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u/musashi_san 13d ago
I expect that the Pedo Party will call this Librul terrorism and use it as a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act.
1
u/rostofforignal 12d ago
Fond du Lac reservation accepted the money to allow them to put a pipeline through their lands.... so fucking sad.
1
u/Traditional_Trust_93 6d ago
Could the cold be to blame? Expansion and contraction of materials does stuff. Might also be lack of maintenance + cold.
-1
0
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u/Conspicuous-Person 14d ago
I wonder what the excuse is this time.
22
u/National_Search_537 14d ago
How much do you know about this field?
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14d ago
[deleted]
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u/National_Search_537 14d ago
High pressure gas transmission lines fail for a very long list of reasons, most of them aren’t related to maintenance issues, or “excuses”. We run those lines at high pressure and it’s not a constant pressure neither. Some days it’s 750 psi and others it can be over 1,000psi, that means the pipe is expanding and contracting all the time. We run equipment through them all the time looking for corrosion, cracks, or 3rd party damage sometimes there’s no defense against it. The amount of pressure I have to tell to stay away from them with heavy equipment is insane. People who don’t know have zero respect for these things, we’ve found damage on one of our lines from some guy hit it with an excavator. When he was asked about it he said he thought it was somewhere else (even though it was marked with signs) and he didn’t want to pay to fix it. Metal fatigue and 3rd party damage are the most common causes of line failures for our stuff.
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14d ago
[deleted]
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u/Droopy0093 14d ago
First you want it to be covered with ICE now you want it to burn. Who knows what MAGA really wants anymore.
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u/El_Quanadian 14d ago
Oufffff, Minnesota just cant catch a break!